The hearing of the writ petition filed by Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, seeking an order against a private plaint, began at the Court of Appeal today (19 May).

In his petition, the SDIG had called for a court order preventing the hearing of the private complaint filed against him before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court.

The petition was heard before the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice A. Marikkar.

Appearing on behalf of the SDIG, President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva highlighted that the summons issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court ordering his client to appear before the court in relation to the private complaint filed was, in fact, against the law.

Meanwhile, Senior State Counsel Shaminda Wickrema, who appeared on behalf of the Colombo Fort Magistrate, named as a respondent in Tennakoon’s petition, informed the court that a motion has already been filed requesting that his client be given more time to file objections.

The Appellate Court bench, however, informed the respondent’s legal counsel that the said motion has already been rejected.

Thus, the further hearing of SDIG Tennakoon’s petition was thereby adjourned until 22 May.

The private complaint in question was filed against SDIG Tennakoon pertaining to the large sum of money found by the ‘Aragalaya’ protesters at the President’s House in Fort, Colombo 09 July 2022.

More than Rs. 17.8 million was recovered, in cash, from the President’s House after anti-government protesters stormed into the compounds during mass demonstrations.

The funds were later handed over to the Fort Police, after which the Colombo Fort Magistrate called for a report on the investigation into the matter owing to certain discrepancies.